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AND THE 



By BARRY GRAY. 



ILLUSTRATED. 




RUSSELL BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS. 

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x^i/^^i^XfJtfii- 



Prioo, Seventy-live Cents. 



Haunts of Leatlierstockiiia. m 



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THE HALL. 
The Home of Fenimore Cooper, at CooperstowD. 







a/ 7'C->?^^>7 07^^ CJO rJ/:2-J^ — 



THE 



Home of Cooper 



AND THE 



Haunts of Leatherstockiiig. 



By BARRY GRAY. 



NEW YORK: 

RUSSELL BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS. 

18 7 2."^ 11 



TO 



MENMY IFMMDBBICK IP MI W WE Y^ 



oooFEJiisT oxvisr. 



THI8 SKETCH OK 



*'The Home of Cooper" 



IWSCMIBJL'li-- 



B '^ T li E3 ^AT T?, X T E5 H. . 







COOPERSTOWK 



'Tis TwEXTV Years Since. 
N a brij^^ht autumnal afternoon in the middlo of 
September, close on to twenty-one years ago, the 
writer of this sketch was descendin;ji; tlie winding 
i^ road of a lofty hill, which overlooked a lovely 
lake and a peaceful village. Drawing rein, he 
gazed admiringly for a few moments on the scene before 
him. Below, like "a dimple on tlie face of earth," en- 
vironed by hills, the sides of which were golden with 
ripening grain or shaded with leafy trees, lay a broad 
and placid sheet of water, which, spreading in a northerly 
direction, was finally lost to the eye amid the dark ever- 
greens that lined its shores. In width it varied from 
three quarters of a -i il • -o one miJo and a half. Numerous 
indentures in the land, forming graceful bays and inlets, 
broke the regularit}^ of its outlines, and over the tops of 
the forest trees fie had glimpses of t'le western bank, 
with its high, broken hills that appeared to creep gradu- 
allv down to the water's edge. At the southern extremity 
of the lake nestled a small village, its white dwelling 
houses gleaming picturesquely through the green foliage, 
and witli here and there a church spire pointing heaven- 
ward. 

The hill was Mount, Vision, the lake Otsego, and the 
village Cooperstown. The trees bordering the road along 
whiclr his carriage rolled wore their darkest and richest 



6 THE HOME OF COOPER AND 

fined to occupy some sucli place among the towns of 
New York State as is now filled by the villages and 
towns on the shores of the lakes of Westmoreland, in 
England, and by the several bouvf/s on those of the dif- 
ferent waters of Switzerland." 

Then, too, there were no boats, save those propelled by 
sails or oars, on the lake; while now there are two steamers 
which ply daily up and down its waters. Then, the only 
means whereby tourists could reach this lovely and seques- 
tered spot were by stage coach or private conveyance over 
a long and sometimes dusty and tedious route; now, seated 
at their ease in drawing-room cars, they are carried by the 
power of steam swiftly along through the winding and pic- 
turesque valley of the Susquehanna. The village streets 
have lengthened and extended their arms south and west. 
Costly stores and elegant dwellings have risen on the sites 
of antiquated houses, and prett}^ cottages have sprung up 
where then grew only th(! wild ros(^ and the brier. 

COOPERSTOWN IN 1848. 

Willis, who visited Cooperstown in the early summer of 
1848, thus described it: " It looks like a town where every- 
body ' gets along,' wher(^ there are six or seven rather 
rich people, and no such thing as a pauper. The princi- 
pal tavern looks a good deal fingered and leaned against; 
the 'hardware stores' are prosperously well built; the boys, 
playing in the street, draw grown-up audiences, whose 
pleased attention to the unvarying varlets shows that there 
is nothing better going on; and, in the windows of the 
houses on the side streets, sit young ladies without a 
sign of a shirt collar in their company, and this last be- 
speaks a town of exhausted uncertainties — everybody's ex- 



THE HAUNTS OF LEArHERSTOCKING. *[ 

act value ascertained, and no object in visiting except 
with definite errand or invitation. By glimpses that I 
caught, over rose trees and picket fences, I should sav 
there was many a charming girl wasting her twilights 
in Cooperstown, while I saw no sign of the gender to 
match — nothing masculine stirring, except very little bovs 
and very manifest 'heads of families.'" 

The steamboats and railroads, however, have greatly 
changed this state of affairs, and when the tide of sum- 
mer travel is at its height, and the hospitable doors of the 
Cooper House are wide open, and the proprietors stand- 
ing therein " welcome the coming, speed the parting guest," 
Cooperstown wears quite another appearance. Its business 
men hasten with elastic tread through its streets, and no 
"charming girl" now "wastes her twilights" for lack of 
a "shirt collar" to keep her company. In fact, the im- 
pression one now receives of Cooperstown is, that it is a 
thriving business place, with a large majority of well-to- 
do citizens, who are actively striving to improve the town, 
and, by increasing its facilities of access, to render it at- 
tractive not only to summer tourists, but to such as hav- 
ing a competence would wish to retire from the turmoil 
and excitement of a city life. The streets are well paved 
and well lighted, and the town itself bears a cheerful, 
sunny aspect. Its scenery is comprised of mountains, val- 
leys, streams and lakes. Lovely walks and drives, with ex- 
cellent advantages for boating and fishing, unite in making 
it one of the most delightful of summer resorts. 

It is the capital of Otsego County, and is about seventy 
miles west of Albany. It has a population of about two 
thousand inhabitants, and contains six churches, four banks, 
a Young, Men's Literary Association, with library and read- 



8 THE HOME OF COOPER AND 

ing room, a fine public scliool, two steamers — tlio "Natty 
Bumppo" and the "Mary Boden " — running to the head 
of the lake, and connecting, by stages, with Richfield and 
Sharon Springs. The Cooperstown and Susquehanna Val- 
ley Ra.ilroad, J. F. Scott, President, connects with the 
Albany and Susquehanna Railroad to Albany and Bing- 
haniton. Mr. George Talbot Olyphant is the Acting Presi- 
dent of this road, and Mr. II. A. Fonda th(^ General Super- 
intendent. 

Early History ok Cooperstown. 
Cooperstown was settled by Judge AVilliam Cooper, who 
removed from Burlington, New Jersey, with his family 
and domestics, numbering fifteen in all, in I T8<). The 
youngest member of the party — an infant a y(>ar old — • 
was destined, in after years, to make memorable, the spot 
his father had selected wherein to set up his household 
gods. Their arrival is thus pleasantly told by Mr. G. 
Ponieroy Keese, a descendant of Judge Cooper's, in an illu.s- 
trated article published in Harper's Weekh/, July 29, 1 871: 

" One bright October afternoon eighty years ago, as the 
sun was drawing lengthened shadows over the landscap(\ 
bathing in rich autumnal light the hills which surround 
the limped waters of Otsego Lake, came around the base 
of 'Mount Vision' a lumbering family coach, bearing, with 
"its attendant vehicles, the founder of Cooperstown and his 
household to their new home. All the glorious beauties of 
the changing foliage, which have since ciiarmed so many 
thousands who have visited this still rural retreat, were 
in their virgin splendor ; and as the new comers looked 
upon the scene, and beheld in the reflection of the lake 
below the dark shades of the evergreens contrasted with 
the gold and crimson hues of the niaplf^ and t.ho beech. 



THE ITAUNTS OF LEATHERSTOOKLVG. 9 

they mut^t have been sadly inseii-sible to tlie chief attrac- 
tion of their future abode if they failed to see in it one 
of the most perfect combinations of hill and valley, lake 
and forest, which the hand of painter could portray. 




COOPERSTOWN, FROM THE EAST. 

* * * With the fading sunlight our travelers passed 
along the western slope of Mount Vision, and, as they 
paused to take a view of the lake, they saw a deer come 
out of • the forest and drink of its waters. Soon they 
crossed the Susquehanna at its source, the outlet of Ot- 
sego Lake, and entered the confines of the village named 
after its founder — Cooperstown. The whole population of 
the place — thirty-five in all — were drawn up to receive 
the 'lord of the manor,' who, from henceforth, as the first 
judge of the county and its largest landed proprietor, be- 
cause the leading spirit in all that region." 



10 THE HOME OF COOPER AND 

From " The Chronicha of Cooperstoivn," edited and cliiefly 
written by Fenimore Cooper, is taken this description of 
the village, as it was in 1838 : 

" The village is beautifully placed at the southern end 
of the lake, being bounded on one side by its shores, 
and on another by its outlet — the Susquehanna. The 
banks of both these waters vary from twentry- to forty- 
five feet in height. * * * The place is clean, the 
situation is dry, and altogether it is one of the healthiest 
residences in the State." 

And, under a thin veil of fiction, as the village of Tem- 
pleton, in "Home as Foumi," the novelist thus describes it, 
seen from Mount Vision : 

" At the northern termination of this lovely valley, and 
immediately on the margin of the lake, lay the village of 
Templeton, immediately under the eyes of the party. The 
distance, in an air line, from their stand to the centre of 
the dwellings, could not be much less than a mile, but 
the air was so pure and the day so calm that it did not 
seem so far. The children and even the dogs were seen 
running about the streets, while the shrill cries of boys 
at their gambols ascended distincth^ to the ear. * * * 

" The appearance of Templeton, as seen from the height 
where it is now exhibited to the reader, was generally 
beautiful and map-like. There might be a dozen streets, 
principally crossing each other at right angles, though 
sufficiently relieved from this precise delineation to pre- 
vent a starched formality. Perhaps the greater part of 
the buildings were painted white, as is usual in the smaller 
American towns ; though a better taste was growing in 
the place, and many of the dwellings had the graver and 



THE HAUNTS OF LKATHERSTOCKING. 11 

chaster hues of the grey stoues of Avhich they were built. 
A general air of neatness and comfort pervaded the place, 
it being as unlike a continental European town south of 
the Rhine, in this respect, as possible — if, indeed, we ex- 
cept the picturesque bourys of Switzerland. In England, 
Templeton would be termed a small market town, so far 
as size was concerned ; in France, a large hcurg, while 
in America it was, in common parlance and legal appel- 
lation, styled a village. 

" Of the dwellings of the place, fully twenty were of a 
quality that denoted ease in the condition of their occu- 
pants, and bespoke the habits of those accustomed to live 
in a manner superior to the oipolloi of the human race. 
Of these, some six or eight had small lawns, carriage 
sweeps, and other similar appliances of houses that were 
not deemed unworthy of the honor of bearing names of 
their own. No less than five little steeples, towers or 
belfries (for neither word is exactly suitable to the archi- 
tectural prodigies we wish to describe) rose aljove the 
roofs, denoting the sites of the same number of places 
of worship; our American villages usually exhibiting as 
many of these proofs of liberty of conscience — caprices of 
conscience would, perhaps, be a better term — as dollars 
and cents w^ill, by any process, render attainable. Several 
light carriages, s\ich as were; suitable to a mountainous 
country, were passing to and fro in the streets; and here 
and there a single horse vehicle was fastened before the 
door of a shop or a lawyer's office, denoting the presence 
of some customer or client from among the adjacent hills." 

Otsego Lake. 
Of the manv inland lakes which the State of New 



1-2 THE BO ME OF COOPER AST) 

York wears proudly on her bosom, none is more lovely, 
or has more romantic associations cast around it, than 
that of Otsego. It is on these waters and in their neigh- 
borhood that the varied scenes of the Leatherstocking 
Tales are laid, and there is scarcely a tree, a rock, a 
spring or a ruin in their vicinity that is not invested with 
a halo of romance and interest. 

Thither in future years, as to an intellectual Mecca, 
pilgrims will come to do honor to the memory of Cooper, 
to verify his descriptions of natural scenery, and to tes- 
tify to his truthful delineation of character. He, before 
any other writers of his day, did most to create a na- 
tional literature, of which the country must always be 
proud. Well and truly did the poet, Halleck, write: 

"Cooper, whose name is with his country's woven, 

First in her files, her Pioneer of mind — 
A wanderer* now in otiier climes, has proven 

His love for the young land he left behind ; 

"And throned her in the Senate-hall of nations. 
Robed like the deluge rainbow, heaven-wrought; 

Magnificent as his own mind's creations. 

And beautiful as its green world's of thought." 

Mr. Cooper, in his account of Lake Otsego, described 
in The Chronicles of Cooperstown, says: 

'• It is a sheet of limpid water, extending, in a direc- 
tion from N. N. East to S. S. West, about nine miles, 
and varying in width from about three-quarters of a mile 
to a mile and a half. It has many bays and points, and 
as the first are graceful and sweeping, and the last low 
and wooded, they contribute largely to its beauty. The 
water is cool and deep, and the fish are consequently 

* Mr. Cooper was then in Evirope. 



THE HAUNTS OF LEATHERSTOCKING. 13 

firm and sweet. The two ends uf the lake, without being 
shallow, deepen their water gradually, but there are places, 
on its eastern side in particular, where a large ship might 
float with her yards in the forest. 

" The shores of the Otsego are generally high, though 
greatly varied. On the eastern side, extends a range of 
steep mountains, that varies in height from four to six 
hundred feet, and which is principally in forest, though 
here and there a farm relieves its acclivities. The road 
along this side of the lake is peculiarly pleasant, and 
traveled persons call it one of the most strikingly pictur- 
esque roads within their knowledge. The western shore 
of the lake is also high, though more cultivated. As the 
whole country possesses much wood, the farms, viewed 
across the water on this side of the lake, resemble Eng- 
lish park scenery, and are singularly beautiful, even as seen 
from the village. 

" Nothing is wanting but ruined castles and recollections 
to raise it to the level of the scenery of the Rhine, or, 
indeed, to that of the minor Swiss views." 

In his ''Deer Slayer-^ he gives a more poetic picture of 
the lake, and speaks of it as "a broad sheet of water 
80 placid and limpid that it resembled a bed of the pure 
mountain atmospliere compressed into a setting of hills and 
woods." 

And further on, he says : " On all sides, wherever the 
eye turned, nothing met it but the mirror-like surface of 
the lake, the placid view of heaven, and the dense set- 
ting of woods. So rich and fleecy were the outlines of 
the forest that scarce an opening could be seen, the 
whole visible earth, from the rounded mountain-top to the 



14 THE HOME OF COOPER AND 

water's edge, presenting one unvaried hue of unbroken 
verdure. As if vegetation were not satisfied with a tri- 
umph so complete, the trees overhung the lake itself, 
shooting out towards the light, and there were miles 
along its eastern shore where a boat might have pulled 
beneath the branches of dark, Rembrandt-looking hemlocks, 
'quivering aspens,' and melancholy pines. In a word, the 
hand of man had never defaced or deformed any part of 
this native scene, which lay bathed in the sunlight, a 
glorious picture of affluent forest grandeur, softened by the 
balminess of June, and relieved by the beautiful variety af- 
forded by the presence of so broad an expanse of water." 

No wonder that, while gazing on such a scene, Deer 
Slayer, as he stood leaning on his rifle, should have ex- 
claimed: "This is grand! — 'tis solemn! — 'tis an edication of 
itself, to look upon!" — for one does not often come across 
a more vivid word-painting than this. 

N. F. Willis thus records, in one of his rural letters, 
his first sight of Otsego Lake : 

" Our first view was from woods high above it, and 
by glimpses through the trees which hem in a very sud- 
den descent. An abrupt opening showed us an extremity 
of the lake immediately under us, and a town, apparently 
all villas and gardens, laid out upon a natural terrace of 
tlie bank. Away west stretched the calm plane of the 
Otsego, narrow like a river (and, indeed, of the average 
breadth of the Hudson, I should say); beautiful, uncom- 
monly beautiful mountain shores shutting it in, and the 
slopes on the far side charmingly pictured with cultiva- 
tion. A lake's mirror was never set in a prettier encadre- 
ment by the frame-making eddies of the retiring deluge, 



THE HAUNTS OF LEATHERSTOCKING. 



15 



and it is so situated, by tlie way, tliat its entire re-gild- 
ing, bv the sunsets, is visiblo from every quarter of the 
town. Tlie path of the eye from Cooperstown to the set- 
ting sun is up a nine mile mirror of wooded water; and, 
what with sucii a foreground, and the mists and reflec- 
tions of its clear and placid l»osom. they -hould see more 
of the dolphin glories' of the West than the inhal)itants 
of other places. T forget, at this moment, whether Cooper's 
books are rich in descriptions of sunsets; but they might 
be, without drawing much on his imagination." 




OTSEGO LAKE 

Near Cooper Hinise, Conperstown. N. Y. 



Mr. Willis afterwards " got a beautiful view of the lake 
from the portico of a very fine house belonging to a mar- 
ried niece of Mr. Cooper, the edge of the water being 



16 THE HOME OF COOPER AND 

just over tlie garden paling, and the far away spread of 
the glassy plane, unshared by any visible dwelling, seem- 
ing to be a property of the grounds we were in. From 
hence, too, we saw a farm of Mr. Cooper's, two or three 
miles up the lake, on the northern shore. The sloping 
banks abound in 'capabilities' for country seats, and will, 
at some future day, doubtless, bo hauled within suburban 
distance by the iron hook of a railroad, and gemmed with 
villas'' — a prediction which recent years have seen A^erified. 

Miss Susan Fenimore Cooper, the eldest daughter of the 
novelist, herself a writer of merit, and the author of several 
works, chiefly descriptive of rural life, prominent among 
which are "Rural Hours" published in 1850; "Country Ram- 
bles : or, Journexj of a Naturalist in England" published in 
1852 ; "Rhyme and Reason of Country Life," and "Pages and 
Pictures" — has given, in the first named work, a pleasing 
description of Lake Otsego. " Our own highland lake," she 
says, "can lay no claim to grandeur; it has no broad ex- 
panse, and the mountains about cannot boast of any great 
height, yet there is a harmony in the different parts of 
the picture which gives it much merit, and which must 
always excite a lively feeling of pleasure. The hills are 
a charming setting for the lake at their feet, neither so 
lofty as to belittle the sheet of water, nor so low as to 
be tame and commonplace; there is abundance of wood 
on their swelling ridges to give the charm of forest 
scenery, enough of tillage to add the varied interest of 
cultivation; the lake, with its clear, placid waters, lies 
gracefully beneath the mountains, flowing here into a quiet 
little bay, there skirting v^ wooded point, filling its ample 
basin, without encroaching on its banks by a rood of marsh 
or bog." 




;V jfc* 



( r-ROM TH 
■HFISinwjSlCE Of THE 




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^ 




i:nimork coopkh 



THE HAUNTS OF LEATHERSTOCKING. 17 

No book, wo feel coufideut, has ever been published in 
this country containing such a store of information of a 
rural character so charmingly narrated, and at the same 
time embodying such positive facts, as Miss Cooper's " Bu- 
ral Hours."'' It is written in a journal form, and shows 
the writer to be a close observer of nature in all her 
various moods. As a hand-book — not a guide-book — to 
the thoughtful minded who may visit Oooperstown it 
would prove a source of gratification. 

We find much in it which we would like to quote, as 
appropriate to this sketch, but the limited space we have 
set ourselves will compel us to forego the gleaning there- 
from of more than one or two additional paragraphs. 

Ftshinm; i.v THE Lakk. 

An attraction, which al! true followers of old Isaac 
Walton will appreciate, is the superior fishing the lake 
affords. In it a fish, differing from all other known ones, 
is found. De Witt Clinton, in a correspondence with 
Mr. George Pomeroy, Mr. Cooper's brother-in-law, in 1822, 
in relation to this fish — called the Otsego bass — said 
that the fish was similar to the white fish of the Western 
lakes; but, subsequently, he acknowledged his error, and 
declared the fish to be a nondescript, unknown to any 
other waters. Agassiz, good authority in all such mat- 
ters, says it is a different fish from any he had hereto- 
fore met, and Thad. Norris, of Philadelphia, author of 
" The American Angler's Book," and " American Fish Cul- 
ture," speaks in this last named work, of the Otsego 
bass (C Otsego). "This fish bears the very inappropri- 
ate name of ' bass ' in Lake Otsego, while it does not 
bear the most remote affinity to any of the numerous 



13 THE HOME OF COOPER AND 

genera of bass. Thus far it is uukuowii in any other 
water than that which gives it its specific name. It is 
said even to surpass the larger white fish in excellence. 
Its average size is not much more than half that of G. 
Allni.<. It could likely do naturalized in small lakes of a 
more southern latitude tluin the large wliite fish, and is 
well worthy of the attention of those who take an in- 
terest in diffusing the best species." 

Mr. Seth Green, noted for his success in the artificial 
breeding of fish, also recognizes the Otsego bass as be- 
ing distinct from those living in other waters. 

Miss Cooper, in her " Eural Hours,'' says: "We have 
one fish peculiar to this lake ; at least the variety found 
here is very clearly marked, and differs from any yet 
discovered elsewhere. It is a .shad salmon, but is com- 
monly called the 'Otsego Bass,' and is considered one of 
the finest fre.sh water fish in the world. In former years 
they were so abundant that they were caught by the 
thousand in seines ; on one occasion five thousand are 
said to have been taken ; the i)eople in the village 
scarcely knew what to do with them ; some were salted, 
others thrown to the hogs. They are still drawn in the 
seine, being seldom taken by the hook, but their num- 
bers, as might be supposed, have very much diminished. 
The largest bass known here have weighed seven pounds, 
but they do not often exceed three or four pounds at 
present. They have a very sweet, fine white meat, with 
a dark, gray skin." The destruction of fish in this Like, 
as in all lakes and streams where fishing is indiscrimi- 
nately pursued, has, since Miss Coopi r wn)te the above — 
twenty years ago and more — been very great ; so much 
so, indeed, as to threaten the total extermination of this 



THE HAUNTS^ OF LEATHERSTOCKING. 19 

celebrated fish : but \vitlii?i ;i year or two, thanks to tlio 
eflForts of the enterprisin-g citizens of the village, the wa- 
ters of the lake are now in a fair way to be fullv re- 
plenished with not only the Otsego bass, but with many 
other varieties of fish. Under the personal superintend- 
ence of Mr. Seth Green, the process of artificial fish 
hatching has been successfully accomplished, and there 
is every prospect that within a very short time, as the 
following report, prepared by Mr. Elihu Phinney, chair- 
man of the committee of the .society organized for the 
propagation of fish, will show, Otsego Lake will swarm 
with several varieties of fish : "' Out of eight thousand 
salmon trout spawn," writes Mr. Phinney, ui>der date 
of February, 1812, " less than one hundred, all told, have 
been destroyed. Of the remainder, only two or three 
hundred remain unhatched, and the young fish are cer- 
tainly objects of great curiosity. Each one is about half 
an inch in length, closely resembling a pair of black 
goggles, with a small but well filled carpet bag, or pro- 
vision pouch attached, and a transparent streak of wig- 
gling "blue light" in the rear, with which to steer the 
whole apparatus. They are extremely active, darting 
about with sur})rising velocity when disturbed, but hid- 
ing instantly, with instinctive shyness, in their gravel 
beds. 

"Whilst with the salmon trout spawn, which bear 
rough usage, the mortality has been only about one per 
cent., amongst the bass eggs, which seem to be of an 
entirely different and far more sensitive structure, it has 
been vastly greater. A very careful record, how«'ver, of 
the daily losses, enables us to predict, with safety, that 
at the end of twenty days (when the jjcriod of incuba- 



20 



THE HOME OF COOPER AXD 



tion ceases) there will remain alive, in the hatching 
boxes, at least four hundred and fifty thousand bass. 
Should one half, or even one third of this vast number of 
fisli ever come to maturity, the citizens of Cooperstown, 
and indeed of the whole surrounding country, might well 
rejoice at the success of this experiment." 

That the above named enterprise will contribute greatly 
to the future prosperity of the village there can be no 
question. The Hatching House is at Three Mile Point, 

PoiXTS OF InTERKST. 




LEATHERSTOCKING FALLS. 
Near Cooperstown, K. Y. 



Among the favorite points and objects of interest 
\vithin walking distance of the Cooper House are Han- 



TEE HAUS-TS OF LEATHERSTOCKING. 21 

nah's Hill. West Hill, Prosoect Kock, Comieil Rock, 
Leatherstocking (or Bear Cliff) Falls, Leatherstocking's 
Cave, Three Mile Point, the Pirate's Spring, Lakewood 
Cemetery and Fairy Spring, the Homestead Grounds of 
the Cooper family, the " Jambs,'' Pappose Pool, and a 
few humble antiquities — a noted rock, the ruins of a 
bridge and the remains of a military work — all close to- 
gether near the outlet of the lake. 

Thk Rock. 
*' The Rock," says Miss Cooper, in her " Rural Hours," 
" lies in the lake, a stone's throw from the shore ; it is 
a smooth, rounded fragment, about four feet high ; the 
waters sometimes, in very warm seasons leave it nearly 
dry, but they have never. I believe, overflowed it. There 
is nothing remarkable in tin- rock itself, though it is 
perhaps the largest of tlie few that show themselves 
above the surface of our hike ; but this stone is said to 
have been a noted rallying point with the Indians, who 
were in the habit of appointing meetings between dif- 
ferent parties at this spot. From the Mohawk country, 
from the Southern hunting grounds on the banks of the 
Susquehanna, and from tin- Oneida region, they came 
through the wilderness to this common rendezvous at the 
gray rock, near the outlet of the lake. Such is the tra- 
dition. * * * It.-^ very simplicity gives it weight, and 
it is quite consistent with the habits of the Indians, 
and their nice observation ; for the rock, though unim- 
portant, is yet the largest in sight, and its position near 
the outlet would make it a very natural waymark to them. 

Thk Rkmains of a BmoGK. 
"On the bank of the river," says tin; :il)ove named 



22 THE HOME OF COOPER AND 

writer, " are fouud the ruins of a bridge — the first made 
at this point by the white man. * * * Jn the summer 
of 1786 a couple of emigrants, father and son, arrived 
on the eastern bank of the river, intending to cross it ; 
there was no village here then. A single log cabin and 
a deserted block house stood on the spot, however, and 
they hoped to find at least the shelter of Avails and a 
roof. But there was no bridge over the river, nor boat 
to ferry them across ; some persons, under such circum- 
stances, would have forded the stream — others might have 
swam across; our emigrants took a shorter course — they 
made a bridge. Each carried his axe, as usual, and choos- 
ing one of the tall pines standing on the bank — one of 
the old race which then filled the whole valley — they soon 
felled the tree, giving it such an inclination as threw it 
across the channel, and their bridge was built. They 
crossed on the trunk." 

Pappoose Pool. 
"About two miles from the village," writes Miss Cooper, 
"there is a very pretty pool in a field near the road, 
covering, perhaps, an acre or more of ground; marvel- 
lous tales were foi'merly told of its depth, and for a long 
time people tried to believe it was unfathomable; but, un- 
fortunately, actual measurement has destroyed the illusion, 
and it is found to be only five or six feet in depth! All 
agree, however, that it has become much more shallow since 
the country has been opened and the woods cut away — 

'Before these fields were shorn and tilled, 

Full to the brim our rivers flowed, 
The melody of waters filled 

The fresh and boundless wood, 
And torrents dashed, and rivulets played, 
'■ And fountains spouted in the shade.' 



THE HAUNTS OF L?:ATHERST0CK1KG. 23 

"But now, as the old Indian sing:^, tlicse things are 

changed: 

' The springs are sileut iu the sun. 

The rivers by the blackened shore 
With lessening current run-' 

"This little lake — Pappoose Pool, as it is called — looks 

very prettily as one comes and goes along the highway, 

with its border of evergreens of various kinds sweeping 

half round it, and making a fine background to the water 

which they color with their (^irk branches.'' 

Mr. Bryant's Oration. 

In his Discourse on the Life, Genius and Writings of 
J. Fenimore Cooper, delivered by Mr. Wm. Cullen Bryant 
at the Metropolitan Hall, New York, P\^bruary 25, 1852, at 
a public memorial meeting iu honor of Mr. Cooper, the 
Hon. Daniel Webster i)residing, Mr. Bryant, speaking of 
the author's home, sa!d : '■ To this home Cooper, who was 
born in Burlington, in the year 1789, was conveyed in 
his infancy; and here, as he informs us in his preface to 
" The Pioneers," his first impressions of the external world 
were obtained. Here he passed his childhood, with the 
vast forests around him, stretching up the mountains that 
overlook the lake, and far beyond, in a region where the 
Indian yet roamed, and the white hunter — half Indian in 
his dress and mode of life— sought his game; a region in 
which the bear and the wolf were yet hunted, and the 
panther, more formidable than either, lurked in the thickets, 
and tales of wanderings in the wilderness, and encounters 
with these fiex-ce animals beguiled the length of the winter 
nights of this place. Cooper, although early removed from it 
to pursue his studies, was an occasional resident through- 
out his life, and here his last years were wholly passed.'' 

The writer of the sketch descriptive of Cooper and 



24 THE HOME OF COOPER AND 

Otsog-0 Hall, in ''Homes of American Aiilliovs" says: "'Mr. 
Cooper's time, afier his return to the United States, was 
chiefly divided between New York, Philadelphia and 
Cooperstown, where he had repaired the line old mansion 
which Ins father had erected, when the* first heart h-^tone 
was hiid on the shores of the Otsego. Originally it stood 
alone, witli the lake before its doors, and the forest, 
Avhich he has described so beautifully in " Tlie rioncerx;^ 
in full view on the riglit. But now tln^ hamlet has 
grown to a village, and the 'village to a town, Mil! the 
once almost solitary representative of civilization was >ur- 
rounded by all the signs of a thriving and indnstiions 
population. Still, earl}- associations and its own natnral 
beauty bound him to the spot ; and, to a mind like his, 
which looked upon the grave without fear, there must 
have been a deep pleasure, though a melancholy one, h) 
the thought that his would lie amid the scenes which had 
suggested some of his most beautiful creations." 

The Susquehanna. 

The Susquehanna river takes its rise in Otsego lak(\ at 
its southeastern boundary ; and, after winding through 
forest defiles, across broad meadow lands, ])ast rural ham- 
lets and pretentious cities, for nearly four hundred miles in 
a southerly direction, finally rushes through the outstretched 
arms of Chesapeake bay into the welcome bosom of the 
Atlantic Ocean. With every foot of its course it increases 
in importance and historical interest, furnishing material 
alike to the poet, the orator and the iiovelist, from which 
to weave poems, speeches and romances. Campbell, in his 
"Gertrude of Wyoming" glorifies it, and opens his poem 
with — 

On Susquehanna's side, fair Wyomiug." 



THE HAUNTS OF LEATHERSTOCKIN'G. 25 

Willis's ■■ LiHli'r.-< from Under n Bridyc," written in ;\ so- 
eluded gleu of the vailev of tlu^ .Susqneli;nni:i, arc replete 
with praises of this stream, which he declares "' swi'eps on 
its course with the disdain of a beauty used to conquer ;'' 
and again he speaks of it in his "Rural LeUer.'<" in con- 
nection with Mr. Cooper, to see whom he had driven across 
from Sharon Springs to Cooperstown : "■ I found,'' he wrote, 
"Mr. Cooper at home, and as there was still a remainder of 
daylight, he put Oji his hat at my request to show me 
the source of the Susquehanna. Whether the river .should 
have presented the stranger to Mr. Cooper, or Mr. Cooper 
presented me to the river — which was the monarch and 
which the goldstick in waiting — is a question of prece- 
dence that occurred to 'me. It was something to see two 
such sources together — the pourings out from both foun- 
tains, from visible head and visible liead-waters, sure to 
last famous till doomsday ; and with appreciative homage 
I mentally followed the viewless afterfiow of both. Mr. 
Cooper, meantime, was as unpretending as any other man, 
and the Susquehanna flowt'd away, like water you can .see 
the whole of." 

And Mr. Seward, in an address delivered on the occasion 
of the centennial celebration of the settlement of Cherry 
Valley, July 4th, 1840, said : " I have desired to see for 
myself the valleys of Otsego, through which the Susque- 
hanna extends his arms and entwines his fingers with the 
tributaries of the Mohawk, as if to div^ert that gentle river 
from its allegiance to the Hudson." 

Mr. Cooper himself, in the introduction to " T/c Pio- 
neers," records an interesting historical incident, which oc- 
curred during the Revolutionary war, in connection with 
the "outlet" of the Susquehanna. In 17T9, an expedition, 



26 THE HOME OF COOPER AND ' 

commanded by Gen. James Clinton, the father of De Witt 
Clinton, was sent against the hostile Indians, who dwelt 
about a hundred miles west of Otsego, on the banks of the 
Cayuga. On reaching the foot of Otsego lake, the troops 
encamped on the shore. " The Susquehanna," says Mr. 
Cooper, " a narrow though rapid stream at its source, was 
much filled with ' flood-wood,' or fallen trees ; and the 
troops adopted a novel expedient to facilitate their passage. 
The Otsego is about nine miles in length, varying in 
breadth from half a mile to a mile and a half. The water 
is of great depth, limpid, and supplied from a thousand 
springs. At its foot the banks are rather less than thirty 
feet high, the remainder of its margin being in mountains, 
intervals and points. The outlet, or the Susquehanna, flows 
through a gorge in the low banks just mentioned, which 
may have a width of two hundred feet. This gorge was 
dammed, and the waters of the lake collected : the Susque- 
hanna was converted into a rill. When all was ready, the 
troops embarked, the dam was knocked away, the Otsego 
poured out its torrent, and the boats went merrily down 
with the current." 

Miss Cooper, in her "Rural Hours," also speaks of this 
military dam in an early chapter of that work. 

Mr. Cooper describes this outlet as " a narrow current" 
which "rushed impetuously from the bosom" of the lake, 
and " was to be traced for miles, as it wound its way to- 
wards the south through the real valley, by its borders of 
hemlock and pine, and by the vapor which arose from its 
warmer surface into the chill atmosphere of the hills. The 
banks of this lovely basin, at its outlet or southern end, 
were steep but not high ; and in that direction the land 
continued, far as the eye could reach, a narrow but grace- 



THE HAUNTS OF LEATHERSTOCKJNG. 27 

fill valley, along which the settlers had scattered their 
humble habitations, with a profusion that bespoke the qual- 
ity of the soil and the comparative facilities of intercourse " 
Miss Constance Fenimore Woolson, of Cleveland, Ohio, 
author of an interesting sketch entitled " The Haunted 
Lake^'' published in the December (1871) number of Har- 
per'^ Monlhhj Magazine, thus speaks of this interesting 
stream : 

" At the foot of Mount Vision a little river leaves the 
lake, and steals away under shady banks, gently and un- 
obtrusively rippling along between the broad meadows, and 
gradually gathering strength from every hillside brook as it 
rolls onward towards the south, through the rich farm lands, 
by crowded cities, over the boundary lines of great States, 
and across the feet of cloud-capped mountains, until, its 
journey endcnl, the mighty Susquehanna, born in the 
Haunted Lake, five hundred miles away, meets the salt 
water where the ocean thrusts up into the land the long 
arm of Chesapeake Bay. But, although the river (lows 
through a succession of lovely valleys, there is in all its 
course no scene so charming as its source — ' Susquehanna's 
utmost spring,' as the old song has it." 

That Miss Woolson wrote with a full knowledge of her 
subject, and con amore, no one who has read her agreeable 
article will fail to perceive. Of 

Coopb:r's Monument 
she says : 

" On one of the slopes of Mount Vision, just beyond the 
site of the panther scene in ' The Pioneers,^ stands the 
Cooper Monument, in the grounds of the new cemetery. It 
is of Italian marble, twenty-five feet high, with a figure of 



28 THE HOME OF COOPER AND 

Leatlierstockiug, four and a half feet high, on the summit. 
Natty is represented loading his rifle and gazing off on the 
Glimmerglass spread out beneath him, while th(> hound by 
his side, watcliing his master with eager eyes, betrays the 
accomplished hand of Launitz in his life-like fidelity : alas, 
that the hand has grown cold ! The die is carv^ed with 
symbols in alto-relievo : on one side is the name of Feni- 
more Cooper, surrounded by palm and oak branches ; and 
on the opposite face is seen the student's lamp and ink- 
stand, with the pen borne aloft by an eagle. On the north 
side arc the naval emblems — an anchor with crossed oars, 
spyglass and commander's sword ; and on the south the 
Indian devices — bow and (juiver of arrows, scalp-locks on a 
lance, tomahawk, and necklace of bears' claws. Much has 
been said as to the propriety of placing Cooper's monument 
on any other site than Cooper's grave — especially when so 
short a distance separates them ; and truly the natural 
place would seem to be the spot where the author's body 
lies. But when we inspect the marble column, with Natty 
standing on its summit, our thoughts turn first to the honest- 
hearted old hunter, who is as much a friend as though he 
really lived and died in the flesh, and it seems right that 
some memorial to his memory should stand on the hillside 
where he roamed, overlooking the lake which he loved. 
Let Natty, thei-efore, have the marble column, and let 
Cooper sleep with his kindred in the old churchyard, need- 
ing no sculptured monument to mark the pathway to his 
grave, deeply worn Ijy hundreds of pilgrim feet year after 
year." 

At the centennial celebration of the birth of Sir Walter 
Scott, August 15th, 1811, an address was delivered by the 
Hon. W. W. Campbell, of Cherry Valley, before the Caledo- 



THE HAUNTS OP LEATHERSTOCKING. 29 

nian Society of Otsego county, at Three Mile Point, on the 
Lake. Judge Campbell, in the course of his address, said: 

" As we gather here to-day, to celebrate the centennial 
birthday of the great Scottish jioet and novelist, we may 
forget that we are at the home and the birthplace of the 
great American noveUst, Cooper, whose monument looks 
down on the clear waters of this beautiful lake, rendered 
classic by his pen." 

Historic Associations. 

In 1783 Washington wrote a friend that he had "visited 
the eastern branch of the Susquehanna, and viewed the 
Lake Otsego." Mr. Cooper, in " The Chronicles of Coopers- 
toivn,^" quotes the first number of the Otsego Herald (April 
J795) that " Otsego was originally the name of the lake 
from which the towa and county were named ; and that 
the term, among the aborigines, signified a place of rendez- 
vous and of friendly greeting." Others say it signified 
"The Beautiful Water." 

The second newspaper ever published west of Alban}' . 

the Otsego Herald — was commenced here by Elihu Phinney 
in 1795. Its files are still preserved by his descendants re- 
siding here. 

Otsego Lake, the present village site, and the Susque- 
hanna river, were the scenes of interesting events during 
the revolutionary war, when Major-General Sullivan sent 
General Clinton, with a brigade of twelve hundred men, 
against the Indians. The incidents of that expedition we 
have already recorded. It is commemorated by a new 
drive near the river bank, south of the village, called the 
" Sullivan road." Traces of the old Continental road, then 
cut from the Mohawk to Otsego Lake, are still visible. 



30 THE HOME OF COOPER AND 

Prince Talleyrand, the great French Minister of State, 
visited Judge Cooper in 1795, when an acrostic in French, 
on Miss Cooper, appeared in the Ot.-^ego Herald, attributed 
to the pen of the great diplomat. 

Here Samuel F. B. Morse, then a young painter, spent a 
part of his youthful days, and amid these picturesque 
scenes cultivated the tastes which made him, later, Presi- 
dent of the National Academy of Design, before he had be- 
come still more distinguished as the Inventor of the Tele- 
graph. 

Of Prof. Morse and Mr. Cooper, N. P. Willis, in his 
" Pencillings by the Way," thus wrote, after encountering 
them in the gardens of the Tuilleries at Paris: "And there 
come two of our countrymen, who are to be seen constantly 
together — -Cooper and Morse. That is Cooper with the* 
blue surtout buttoned up to his throat, and his hat over 
his eyes. What a contrast between the faces of the two 
men ! Morse, with his kind, open, gentle countenance, the 
very picture of goodness and sincerity ; and Cooper, dark 
and corsair looking, with his brows down over his eyes, and 
his strongly lined mouth fixed in an expression of moodi- 
ness and reserve. The two faces, however, are not equally 
just to their owners — Morse is all that he looks to be, but 
Cooper's features do him decided injustice. I take a pride 
in the reputation this distinguished countryman of ours has 
for humanity and generous sympathy. The distress of the 
refugee liberals from all countries comes home especially to 
Americans, and the untiring liberality of Mr. Cooper, par- 
ticularly, is a fact of common admission and praise. It is 
pleasant to be able to say such things." 



THE HAUNTS OF LRATHERSTOCKiyO. 31 

The Chalet. 

" Otsego Hall/' the old Cooper homestead, has passed 
away, but the farm house which Mr. Cooper built at "The 
Chalet" — a tract of land of about one hundred acres, lying 
on the eastern l)ank of the lake, about one mile and a half 
above the village — is still pointed out to visitors. " This 
farm," says Mr. G. Pomeroy Keese, " was his daily resort 
for relaxation and enjoyment after his literary labors were 
over. It commanded an extensive view of the village and 
the valley of the Susquehanna on the south, and of the 
bills and country beyond the head of the lake on the north. 
It was this view, one of the most beautiful in the vicinity, 
that caused the purchase of the farm by Mr. Cooper. Its 
attractions to the agriculturist were not commensurate with 
the beauty of the situation. Indeed, a more forbidding 
spot, as far as the labors of the husbandman were con- 
sidered, could not well have been chosen. The whole farm 
is, in fact, a miniature mountain, rising abruptly from the 
shore of the lake to the height of about four hundred feet ; 
and, with the exception of two or three level terraces of a 
few acres each, an unbroken hillside, dotted with stumps, 
intersected by rocky ledges, and crowned by a wooded 
crest. To a farmer seeking a pecuniary return for his in- 
vestment, this spot would surely have been passed over ; 
but for Cooper, who delighted in overcoming difficulties, 
and who attacked with vigor any opposing obstacle, this 
was just the place." 

Other Interestino Points. 

Three miles from the village, on the west side of the lake, 
is Wild Rose Point. Here, on green lawns and beside cool 
springs and winding brooks, under the shade of venerable 



32 THE HOME OF COOPER AND 

oaks, parties of citizens and visitors are almost constantly 
found engaged in every kind of rural enjoyment. A mile 
nearer the village is Rrookwood Point, now a summer resi- 
dence, in a majestic grove effectively developed by tasteful 
improvement. The large farm of Judge Nelson (Senior Jus- 
tice of the U. S. Supreme Court), lies between this and the 
village, and, like the adjoining lands, abounds in charming 
views. 

On the east side, commencing at the Susquehanna, the 
spacious lawns and groves of " Lakelands" and the Bowers 
Farm and woods extend northward on the lake for a mile, 
with an attractive landing for Lakewood Cemetery ; then 
the varied shores of mingled lawn, forest, cliff and ravine of 
" The Chalet," with a landing for Leatherstocking's cave. 
Two miles from the village is Point Judith, with its exten- 
sive lake prospects, its natural grove and tangled wild- 
wood, in their primitive luxuriance. A portion of .the lake 
shore above this slopes in gentle lawns to the water^ while 
in most places bold banks, dark wooded recesses and pre- 
cipitous rocks form a foreground ; east of which are found 
terraces fringed with forest and grove, bounded by steep 
hills, and commanding those charming views of the lake, its 
varied western shores and farms, and of the village whose 
beauties Mr. Cooper has described in the pages of his 
novels. Indeed, the author has left us but few of the 
salient points of attraction in the sceneiy of the lake and 
its surroundings to describe, that he has not done better 
than our poor pen could hope to accomplish. He has gone 
from among us, to be sure. " But," as Miss Woolson writes, 
"the magic of his genius lingers around the lake he so lov- 
ingly described. Its points and bays are haunted, and its 
forests are peopled with wraiths and shades. A listener 



THE HAUNTS OF LEATHERSTOCKING. 33 

under the trees on a dreamy summer day will hear the low, 
musical laugh of Wah-ta-wah, the gentle Indian maiden, 
and catch a glimnso of the young chieftain, her lover, in 
the distance through the forest arches. Sometimes, at dusk, 
the camp fires of the Iroquois gleam from the gravelly points 
of the eastern shore ; and off Hyde bay, where the rushes 
wave on the shoal, the dim outline of Muskrat Castle can 
be traced ; and the faint strains of an old-time hymn are 
heard strangely sweet over the water — the even song of 
innocent Hetty at her mother's grave. On a moonlight 
night the solitary oarsman is startled by the flapping of 
unseen canvas; and, silently appearing from the realms of 
nowhere, the ark glides slowly into view, old llutter at 
the helm, and the gigantic On-iu of Harry Hurry lounging 
in the doorway. Attempt to approach the spirit bark and 
it vanishes in the haze, with a stentorian laugh from Harry 
Hurry ringing over the water, and echoed back and forth 
from mountain to mountain, until the whole group around 
the Haunted Lake seem nodding and shaking their sides 
in weird merriment. 

" But, dearer than all in his gentle simplicity, honest 
hearted Natty, the greatest creation of Cooper's pen, haunts 
the lake and woods around, hunting the deer with dog 
and gun, the kindliest spirit of the band. Sometimes, as 
the Deer Slayer, he is seen near the Fairy Spring, his grave, 
youthful face unmoved by the beauty of Judith Hutter, 
that alluring Lady of the Lake, whose dark eyes fascinate 
us even from the written page, and make us wonder at the 
severity of this forest Galahad. Then, as Leatherstocking, 
the mighty hunter, advanced in years, but honest hearted 
still, he is sometimes visible coming down from the cave 
that bears his name, gliding in his canoe across Blackbird 

3 



34 



THE HOME OF COOPER. 



bay, or crossing the Vision in haste to rescue from the 
panther's cruel claws the fair form of Elizabeth Temple. 
The distant prairie, where the Leatherstocking finally dis- 
appears from our sight, is torn up by the steam plow and 
locomotive ; the old trapper, with his white hairs and trem- 
bling steps, has returned to the Haunted Lake ; and at 
early dawn his bowed figure appears at rare intervals 
standing on Otsego Rock, shading his eyes from the rising 
sun, and gazing over the Glimmerglass, the scene of his 
youthful exploits, with earnest interest. Dear old Natty — 
faithful, kindly wraith — the memory of tliy character and 
deeds will haunt the valley long after the very names of 
its real men and women are forgotten — save only the name 
of the man who gave thee to the world, the man whose 
grave is fitly made near the shores of the Haunted Lake. 

" 0, Haunted Lake, from out whose silver fountains 
The mighty Susquehanna takes its rise ; 
0, Haunted Lake, among the pine-clad mountains, 
Forever smiling upward to the skies — 

" Thrice blest art thou in every curling wavelet, 
In every floating water lily sweet — 
From the old Lion at thy northern boundary, 
To fair Mount Vision sleeping at thy feet. 

"A master's hand hath painted all thy beauties; 
A master's mind hath peopled all thy shore 
"With wraiths of mighty hunters and fair maidens, 
Haunting thy forest glades forevermore. 

"A master's heart hath gilded all thy valley 
"With golden splendor from a loving breast; 
And in thy little churchyard, 'neath the pine trees, 
A master's body sleeps in quiet rest. 

"0, Haunted Lake, guard well tliy sacred story — 
Guard well the memory of that honored name I 
Guard well the grave that gives thee all thy glory 
And raises thee to long enduring fame." 




^^^^^-.r^ 



THE COOJPEM HOUSE, 



The Cooper House stands on the highest ground in 
the village— 80 feet above the Lahe and 1,200 feet 
above the sea. It is surrounded by a fine Park oj 
nearly eight acres, handsomely planted' with shade 
trees; and within the enclosure are Croquet, Ball 
and Archery Grounds. An ornamental Surmner 
House, a Rustic Arbor and several tasteful Tents give a 
pleasing and picturesque appearance to the general 
surroundings. 

SEASON OPENS IN JUNE. 

The House will open during June of each year. It is 
capable of acrmmnodntin^ over three hundred guests. 
Its internal arrangements are com,plete, with all the 
modern improvements— including bells, gas in every 
room, hot and cold baths, etc. The rooms are mostly en 
suite, and well adapted for families. There are six 
stairjvays to each floor, rendering it perfectly safe in 
case of fire. It has a large Drawing Room for ladies, 
and spacious Halls for promenading. There are also 



36 THE COOPER HOUSE. 

several cottages, sioitable for families, within a hun- 
dred feet of the inain hivildiiig. 

MUSIC. 

Particular attention has been given to the selection of 
a first class orchestra, u^vich will perfomn during the 
day, and in the evening for dancing. Regular Hops 
in the large Ball Room during the season. 

There is a new and spacious building on the premises, 
erected in 187 1, containing a fine large Billiaixl Room 
and four good Bowling Alleys. 

LAUNDRY. 

A new steam Laundry, complete in all its appoiitt- 
ments, and under the direction of an accomplished 
Laundress, offers unusual facilities in that depart- 
ment. 

Washing ivill be done in a superior manner, and 
with prom^ptness and despatch. Particular attention 
^iven to Ladies' Dresses, Laces, etc. 

STABLING. 

A fine large Barn, luith Stabling accommodatiojts for 
over 50 horses, was erected in the spring of 1871. The 
stalls are all well ventilated, and the best attention to 
private horses and carHages will be guaranteed. 

-• Guests wishing carriages or saddle horses can be sup- 
plied at short notice on application at the office. 

An omnibus will be run to the Lahe and other places 
of interest several times a day, for the aonvenience of 
the guests, at a very small charge. 

CHURCHES. 

TJie following Churches are represented, which guests 
of the Cooper House are cordially invited to attend: 



THE COOPER HOUSE. 37 

JEpiscopal, Presbijterian, Methodist, Baptist, Universal- 
ist and Roman Catholic. 

The Young Men's Lihrar^y Association also offer spe- 
cial inducements to summer guests, giving them the 
full privileges of the Lihrarjj and Reading Room at a 
greatly reduced rate. 

TELEGRAPH. 

The Western Union Telegraph Co. have an office in 
the Cooper House, communicating ivith all parts of the 
world. 

There is also a JVeivs Stand, containing the best daily 
and iveehly papers and magazwies. Albany papers re- 
ceived at noon, and JVew Yorh morning dailies received 
the same evening. 

Eminent Physicians and Surgeons reside near the 
house, and can be summoned at short notice. 

The proprietors refer luith pleasure to their pati^ons 
of last year, as to their ability to heep a first class Re- 
sort, for the variety of their menu, the excellence of 
their cuisine, and the general attentioiv to the comforts 
and wants of their guests. 

IMPROVEMENTS. 

During the Spring of 1872 they have enlarged their 
Dining Room one third-, added a Gentlemen' s Smohing 
Room, a Writing Room, and two pleasant Public Rooms 
for the Ladies, besides additional Sleeping Apartments. 

RATES OF BOARD. 

Board, transient, $Ii. per day ; during June, from 
4 15 to $20 per week ; during July, from $20 to $25 ; 
during August, $25 per week, and in September from 
$15 to $20, according to size and location of rooms. 

Civildren, under 12 years of age, and servants, half 
price. 



38 THE COOPEmJ house. 

Special rates for famiZies remaining through the 
season. 

Application for Board and Rocms may be made to 
the 7'yoprietors at Cooperstomic, JV. F., or to W. B. Cole- 
man, at the Jfew Yorh Hotel, JV. Y. (721 Broadway), 
before the 1st of June, where plans of the House can 
be seen and rooms secured. 

GOLEMaN «& MAX^VELL. 




THE TOMB OF FENIMORE COOPER, 
At Cooperstown. 









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